Hydrogen is one of the most ideal energy sources in 21st century, hydrogen generates the most amount of energy under the circumstance of burning the same weight of coal, gasoline and hydrogen, and the product of combustion is water without ashes or emissions, which will not harm the environment; products of combustion after burning coal and petroleum are primarily CO2 and SO2, which cause the greenhouse effect and the acid rain respectively. Reserves of coal and petroleum are restricted, hydrogen is primarily reserved in water, and water is the only product of combustion, which can generate hydrogen continuously without limitation. Hydrogen is spread widely, water is the warehouse of hydrogen, with 11% hydrogen included. The soil contains 1.5% hydrogen; hydrogen can be found in petroleum, coal, natural gas, animals and plants. Hydrogen primarily exists in a form of water, and water covers 70% surface of the earth, which is considerable, therefore, hydrogen is a limitless resource. Hydrogen will be an inexpensive energy source if it can be produced by a proper method.
At present, an annual yield of hydrogen worldwide is around 36 thousand tons, hydrogen is primarily prepared by two methods: one is prepared by petroleum, coal and natural gas, which will consume limited mineral materials, and most hydrogen is generated by the manner; the other is prepared by the method of electrolysis of water, which consumes a great deal of electric energy and is not economic, around 4% hydrogen is produced by the method. The technology that prepares hydrogen with an aqueous solution of methanol is improved with the development of technique, which can reduce energy consumption and costs in chemical production, hopefully substituting the process of electrolysis of water generating hydrogen that requires a large amount of electric energy. Hybrid gases of H2 and CO2 are obtained by advanced reforming technology of producing hydrogen with an aqueous solution of methanol, H2 and CO2 can be separated by a palladium membrane separator.
Referring to Chinese patent application No. 201310340475.0 (applicant: SHANGHAI HEJI DEDONG HYDROGEN MACHINE CO LTD), an aqueous solution of methanol vapor undergo methanol decomposition and a reaction of carbon monoxide in a temperature of 350-409° C. and a pressure of 1-5 MPa with assistance of a catalyst, producing hydrogen and carbon oxide, which is a multi-componential, multi-reactional catalytic system with gases and solids. Reaction equations are as follows:CH3OH→CO+2H2  (1)H2O+CO→CO2+H2  (2)CH3OH+H2O→CO2+3H2  (3)
H2 and CO2 generated by the reforming reaction are separated by the palladium membrane separator of a separation chamber, highly purified hydrogen can be achieved.
The catalytic reaction of an aqueous solution of methanol occurs in the reformer of the device producing hydrogen with an aqueous solution of methanol, the reformer includes a reforming housing and a combustion chamber and a reforming chamber in the reforming housing, as well as an initiation device, generally, a temperature in the reforming chamber is 350-409° C., a temperature in the combustion chamber is 405-570° C., which make the reformer to run properly. Initiation of the reformer is triggered by the initiation device, in a conventional technique, it takes long to cold start, generally more than 5 hours, and warm start consumes a great deal of energy, keeping devices such as the reforming chamber in a high temperature.
Accordingly, the inventor applied a patent No. 201310578086.1 on Nov. 18, 2013 (applicant: SHANGHAI HEJI DEDONG HYDROGEN MACHINE CO LTD), the patent disclosed a system for preparing hydrogen with an aqueous solution of methanol that can be started rapidly and a method of preparing hydrogen thereof, the system for preparing hydrogen with an aqueous solution of methanol includes an initiation device, the initiation device includes a first initiation device and a second initiation device, the first initiation device includes a housing, a first heater, a first vaporization tube, the first vaporization tube twists the first heater tightly; the first heater can be an electric heating rod, powered by an alternating current, a rechargeable battery or a battery, the first heater heats the first vaporization tube to output vaporized methanol from the first vaporization tube; the second initiation device includes a second vaporization tube, vaporized methanol exported from the first vaporization tube is burned to heat the second vaporization tube, in order to vaporize methanol in the second vaporization tube, so that the second vaporization tube heats the reforming chamber for initiating the system of producing hydrogen.
However, the system for preparing hydrogen with an aqueous solution of methanol still has following shortcomings: vaporization of methanol in the first vaporization tube of the first initiation device needs to be heated by the first heater, and the heater is an electric heating rod, powered by an alternating current, a rechargeable battery or a battery, it takes shorter time to initiate the reformer by electric heating in a conventional technique, but not short enough, for vaporization or burning of an aqueous solution of methanol, the first vaporization tube generally needs to be heated up to more than 200° C. Moreover, it might be unsafe to be powered by the alternating current, a power bank such as a rechargeable battery or a battery is consumed rapidly, charging and replacing of which bring extra trouble. Moreover, the first vaporization tube twists the heater, which prevents all the heat generated by the heater being applied on the first vaporization tube, the first initiation device and the device preparing hydrogen (reformer) need to be disposed separately, which reduce heating efficiency of the first initiation device heating the second initiation device in the device preparing hydrogen (reformer).